As far as I’m aware, although there’s always* been a map of Perry Hall, there’s never been one of Perry Park, so we finally put this right this year. Alison Sloman has produced maps of both at 1:5000 and a combined map at 1:7500. Once upon a time I’d envisaged combining the two areas by means of the subway under the Walsall Road, but when this was filled in, Alison came up with the excellent alternative suggestion of using the canal towpath. Unfortunately the path from Sandringham Road to the canal has now been gated, so Wednesday’s dual-park event may have been the first and the last!

I couldn’t run this event on my own so I was very grateful to Ruth Lockley (who lives just off the map) for agreeing to be the Perry Hall starter, and she made contact with the Friends of the park and put on a little simultaneous extra score event for them too.

Meanwhile, back across the A34, thanks to Stuart Paul, ex-Harlequin and now major-domo at Birchfield Harriers, for allowing us to use their facilities (in between two major events) and for dusting off his dibber and having a go himself. 🙂

This butterfly format meant it only took just over an hour to put out all the controls needed for an event with 5 courses, the longest being 6.4 km with 18 controls. Some thought just needs to go into the siting of the common control and into the positioning of the loops in order to avoid doglegs and repeating legs.

The latest of my biannual Queslett events is coming up on Sunday week, the 25th. Start times 4.30-5.30 pm. This one is designed mainly for kids and beginners but there’ll be a cobbled-together course for the old hands (about 4km). For a change we’ll be using the Asda car park and all the money (£3/£1.50) will be going to Children in Need.

Meanwhile (cue fanfare) Community O arrives in the West Midlands this week with the launch of the Wednesday night sessions in Sutton Coldfield. Dave Ellis and co will be running these at Clifton Road Youth Centre (between Wyndley Leisure Centre and Town Gate) between 6 and 7.30, and your first two visits are free.

Above is my and Dave’s little bit on the back cover of the September issue of Families Birmingham and Solihull, which I think I did well to arrange. 🙂 (Thanks, Wendy!) Thousands of copies of each issue are distributed free via schools, libraries, etc.

From Cannon Hill Park – to Witton Lakes – to Handsworth Park – to Pype Hayes – to Rectory Park – every day the sun shone and the people came. Thanks for coming, and special thanks to Catherine, Andy, John, Ruth, Bob, John and Dave for helping. It went well but we know a few things now that’ll make it even better next time. 🙂

In case you’re wondering about the wisdom of putting on a seemingly random and potentially exhausting series of events, some planning has gone in to the enterprise. First of all, the week chosen is Love Parks Week. Secondly, the Parks Department are putting on tours of Witton Lakes and Rectory Park on Tuesday and Friday. Thirdly, Wednesday is Birmingham’s Be Active day. Fourthly, Cannon Hill Park is the venue for this year’s Community Games. Fifthly, the schools are breaking up and parents and children are looking for things to do. Sixthly, it’s the week before the Scottish. Seventhly, it’s an opportunity to advertise the club nights that are starting in Sutton in September – which is one reason why the events are more on the north side of the city. (The other being it’s where I live!)

Next Thursday the venue for stage 4 of the Birmingham Parks O-Ringen is Pype Hayes, whose main claim to fame these days is that the park hosts Birmingham’s November-5th bonfire every year. The orienteering map on the COBOC website was drawn in 1988, and the park is almost unrecognisable! Well, there’s still the hall, the pond and the car park…

A clue to what’s gone on can be found on the council’s website, where it says “The park is also the site of the ward’s millennium woodland.” Suffice to say, there are a lot more trees in the park today than there were in 1988. Also, they’ve recently been spending Lottery money building new footpaths to create a link between Castle Vale and Sutton.

The event on the old map will be a good excuse to practise your compass work… 🙂

Update: To give you a sporting chance, we’ve decided to use the 2004 map. We’re too kind…